martin mullaney

Former Councillor for Moseley and Kings Heath Ward, Birmingham, from 2004 to 2012

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Two Moseley properties being compulsory purchased

Two Moseley properties - 75 Alcester Road and 60 Elizabeth Road - are being compulsory purchased by Birmingham City Council.

A public enquiry is being held on 24-26 March 2009 at 10am at the Birmingham Midland Institute, Margaret Street.

The public enquiry is an opportunity for the owners of these properties to argue why their properties should not be compulsory purchase. At time of writing, the owners have put no objections in.

The two properties are being compulsory purchased under powers that local authorities have with regards to long term void domestic properties. In the case of these two properties they have been empty since at least prior to 2004.

These two properties will most likely be subsequently auctioned, with a condition that the owner gets them back into habital condition and occupied within 1 year.

The Council is still finalising the paperwork to compulsory purchase the former Sorrento Hospital buildings at 128 and 130 Anderton Park Road.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Two speed cameras proposed for Alcester Road, Moseley

I would welcome views on Birmingham City Council (Transportation Strategy) proposal to erect two speed cameras on Alcester Road, Moseley; both in the southbound direction. Looking at the attached plans, the locations look sensible. I've been asked to comment by 3rd April.

Site 1: Alcester Road, between Trafalgar Road and Louise Lorne Road.

The site has been chosen based on road traffic collisions on the A435 Haden Way / Moseley Road / Alcester Road, between Belgrave Middleway and Park Road during the period July 2005 to May 2008.

During this period there were twelve serious injury collisions and thirty slight injury collisions. This is enough to justify the placement of a speed camera, based on the criteria agreed by the West Midlands local authorities.

Site 2: Alcester Road, between Dowells Close and Hill Crest Road.

The site has been chosen based on road traffic collisions on the A435 Alcester Road, between Park Road and Queensbridge Road, during the period July 2005 to May 2008.

During this period there were nine serious injury collisions and 47 slight injury collisions. This is enough to justify the placement of a speed camera, based on the criteria agreed by the West Midlands local authorities.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Works commences on re-opening Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations

Work has now begun on the first phase of the re-opening of Moseley and Kings Heath railways stations in 2018.

Centro have commenced work on the design of the south-west Bordesley Chord, which will link passenger services from Moseley or Kings Heath into Moor Street station. The initial 3 month study will look at the options for track and structure layouts on the Bordesley Chord and the estimated costs. Once a Preferred Option for the Chord has been selected, it will then be developed further by Network Rail. Network Rail have been successful in getting money from the Department for Transport for this work. It is intended to build the Bordesley Chord between 2014 to 2019.

Centro have allocated £125,000 for the initial feasibility study (i.e. up to selection of Preferred Option),

It is estimated that the cost of the Bordesley Chord will be approximately £35million. The cost of building stations at Moseley, Kings Heath and Stirchley would be £1million each.

The Moseley station would be located in the cutting between St.Marys Row and Woodbridge Road

The Kings Heath station would be located immediately south of the High Street bridge, next to the Tile R’Us warehouse.

The Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations are on the Camp Hill railway. The stations closed in 1941, due to lack of passengers usage. This was due to the services having to taken a convulated route up to Nechells and into the over crowded New Street station.

Building the Bordesley Chord will allow passenger services to enter the under-used Moor Street station. Journey times from Moseley to Moor Street will be 5 minutes. From Kings Heath it will be 8 minutes.

Throughthe use of maps and photos, my webpage shows where the original Highbury estate was and which parts of the Highbury Trust land are now publicly accessible.

I also show which features and planting from the original Highbury estate still exist. I also show the disastrous planting of the Highbury arboretum in the mid-1990s which destroyed much of the landscape of the original estate.